Tour de France Stage Twenty

Stage Twenty:  Martin crushes time trial as Frenchmen bridge 30-year-gap

While Vincenzo's first victory in the Tour de France was already almost certain, France claimed back some of its past glory by placing two men on the race podium for the first time in 30 years after Saturday's final time trial in Perigueux, won by Tony Martin. The German's success was as predictable as Nibali's triumph yet the medal spots were up for grabs and Jean-Christophe Peraud used his experience and «rouleur» skills to clinch a runner-up spot while Thibaut Pinot emerged as the rising star of the sport by salvaging a third place overall, at 24. He was not born the last time two local riders had been in the top three in 1984 when Laurent Fignon beat Bernard Hinault to claim his second Tour de France.

Lying some six hours behind Nibali overall after 18 stages, Ji Cheng was the first in action. But the First Chinese to take part in the Tour de France did not have the chance to set a reference time as he was overtaken 13 km from the line by Italy's Davide Cimolai, who started two minutes behind him.  The Italian was in turn erased from the tables by French champion Arnaud Demare, then by Adrien Petit, who in turn left his temporary top spot to Vladimir Isaychev. The first real pace setter was Danny Pate, who completed the course at an average speed of 46.7 kph.

Czech Jan Barta (TNE), elected the most aggressive rider in stage 3 in London, took over by becoming the first rider under 1:09 on 1:08.08. It was again a very temporary lead as Tony Martin was soon in action and improved the Czech's mark at each intermediate timing to be faster on the line by 1:47. The German average speed of 48.8 kph remained remote from the speed of over 50 kph reached by Miguel Indurain on the same course in 1994 over 64 kph. Along the way, the Omega Pharma Quick Step riding machine, already winner of a remarkable stage in Mulhouse, overtook three riders, Molard, Oss and Purito Rodriguez.

Read more at http://www.letour.com/le-tour/2014/us/stage-20/news/flm/martin-crushes-time-trial-as-frenchmen-bridge-30-year-gap.html